His comments came two days after the rebuilding of Novo
Banco was dealt a blow with the resignation of the three men
handpicked by the central bank in July to turn it around, amid
reports of disagreements over the speed of any disposal.

BES, which had been Portugal's largest listed lender, was
the subject of a government-arranged bailout after the collapse
of the business empire of its founding Espirito Santo family,
whose main holding firms are under court protection.

The bulk of its risky assets, including about 2 billion
euros of loans linked to the Espirito Santo family, were left
behind in the original bank, but analysts and auditors have
warned some losses and liabilities may yet be uncovered at Novo
Banco, which took on BES's healthy assets.

Passos Coelho noted the state had poured 4.9 billion euros
($6.3 billion), mostly in public funds, into Novo Banco last
month and risked more by lingering with the sale.

"The more time passes before the sale, the greater the risks
faced," he told reporters, adding the government wanted the best
possible terms for the operation. He did not specify any risks
but analysts said a drain on deposits and litigation could
undermine the value of the bank.

"The message is clear - accelerate the sale, at least
there's some certainty on that now. The new team comes precisely
with that mandate," said Albino Oliveira, an analyst at
brokerage Fincor. He and other banking sources cautioned,
however, that a speedy sale might not generate the most value.

NEW TEAM

The Bank of Portugal on Sunday named Lloyds Banking Group
Plc director Eduardo Stock da Cunha as chief executive
to replace Vitor Bento, whom it had handpicked to run BES in
July, before the state bailout.

The new team also includes three other experienced bankers.

Bento - a respected economist but not a professional banker
- said he and his two main executives were leaving because their
initial mandate to revive the bank with private money had
changed too much since the bailout.

Bento told the bank's clients on Monday they could rely on
the bank and would benefit from management changes. "Nothing
essential changes and the bank will continue its efforts to
serve you with the quality you know, he wrote in a letter.

Asked if he saw any risks in a swift sale, particularly the
bank not fetching its fair value needed to repay the rescue
loans, Bento told Reuters it was "premature to make such
evaluations", leaving it to the new management to answer later.

On whether Novo Banco was stabilized after his stint at the
helm, Bento said: "The most we can say now is that the opening
balance of the bank is practically ready. It is yet unaudited,
but it will allow for a more solid dialogue with various
business counterparts of the bank and with rating agencies."

Ciaran Callaghan, an analyst at Dublin-based Merrion
Stockbrokers, said: "Ideally from Novo Banco's s point of view,
it would have been better to have a period of management
stability until a private sale completes.

"However .. it looks like management were unhappy with the
high level of intervention in the bank's strategy by the
government and Bank of Portugal and they felt that they were no
longer in a position to add much value."

OPEN QUESTIONS

The reshuffle triggered jitters among investors holding the
bank's senior unsecured bonds. The interest rate they demanded
rose by 20 basis points, or 0.2 percent, in the first few hours
of trading as the price of the bonds fell.

"There are still lots of open questions about the bank and
its value - notably what's going to happen with the Angolan
unit," said Oliveira.

Auditors have warned it is yet impossible to quantify the
impact from the Angolan state's intervention in BES' Angolan
unit BESA, which led to the revoking of a state guarantee issued
for up to $5.7 billion, or 70 percent of BESA's loan book.

Novo Banco does not face any risks from the Angolan unit,
since BES's stake in BESA was left behind in the original bank.
The new bank can get some upside if Angola comes good, however,
because it holds a 3 billion euros credit line that was extended
to BESA by BES. That credit line was valued at zero when Novo
Banco was created, so the bank does not face any downside.

Diario Economico newspaper said Spain's Santander
and Portugal's Banco BPI may be interested in buying
Novo Banco. Officials at the two banks declined to comment.

Fernando Faria de Oliveira, head of the Portuguese Banking
Association (APB), said there were potential interested parties,
but declined to elaborate. He hailed the new Novo Banco
management, saying the new team's profiles "match perfectly the
goals of maximising the bank's value and preparing it for sale."

Another banking analyst who did not want to be named said
that while the resignations undermined stability, the naming of
a new team charged with the sale was generally a good sign.

"They come on a leave of absence from their main jobs, which
makes them a task force set up for the sale," said the analyst.

"They (the outgoing executives) had been invited to recover
and run the bank and not as a liquidation committee, so it's
fair to quit," the analyst said. "I really don't think they left
because they discovered any larger holes at the bank - Novo
Banco and the central bank just cannot afford the risk of hiding
any such findings."
(1 US dollar = 0.7730 euro)
(Additional reporting by Laura Noonan, Sergio Goncalves and
Aimee Donnellan; Editing by David Holmes)